Education, From The Capitol To The Classroom

Stories about students: How does education policy affect the way students learn and grow? Can schools meet their needs as they balance ramped-up testing with personal changes and busy schedules? And are students who need help getting it?

Stories about educators: How are those responsible for implementing education policy in schools − from classroom teachers, to district administrators, to school board members − affected by changes at the top? And how well do they meet their challenge of reaching students with varying abilities and needs?

Stories about school assessment: With an increased push for 'accountability' in schools, what can test scores tell us about teacher effectiveness and student learning − and what can't they tell us? What does the data say about how schools at all levels are performing?

Stories about government influence: Who are the people and groups most instrumental in crafting education policy? What are their priorities and agendas? And how do they work together when they disagree?

Stories about money: How do local, state, and federal governments pay to support the education policies they craft? How do direct costs of going to school − from textbooks to tuition − hit a parent or student's bottom line? And how do changing budgets and funding formulas affect learning and teaching?

“That worries me,” says Shank. “The thing is, how can you pause? You know, what does it mean to pause? Because teachers have been getting ready for this. And some schools have already started. We did it in kindergarten, we did it in first grade. So now those kids, we’re saying, we got to pause. So what does ‘pause’ exactly mean to us?”

Districts across the state have already purchased new textbooks and retrained teachers to teach to the standards. But next year Shank will be expected to use new, state-specific standards.

Critics Say New Standards Overlap Too Much With Core

Now that Indiana’s Common Core pause is a full stop, it’s unclear what that means for the rest of the school year. State education officials have until July to adopt new expectations for students.

“It’s probably the most vigorous, the most transparent and comprehensive evaluation of standards that’s ever been attempted by a state,” says Pence.

Still, Common Core critics aren’t satisfied. Sen. Scott Schneider, R-Indianapolis, penned SB 91 — then removed himself as an author in protest. He says the draft standards going to the State Board next month are too similar to the nationally-crafted expectations they’ll replace.

But for teachers such as Shank, they just want the process to be done.

“If we’re doing Common Core, great,” she says. “If you’re doing Common Core and mix some Indiana standards in it, that’s great, too. But we just need to know a direction.”